Missouri congressman speaks out against health care reform

When Missouri Congressman Sam Graves held a town hall meeting at Brookfield’s Reel Time Cinema on Thursday afternoon, he focused on President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reforms.

Chris Houston

When Missouri Congressman Sam Graves held a town hall meeting at Brookfield’s Reel Time Cinema on Thursday afternoon, he focused on President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reforms.

As part of Graves’ 26-county tour, the stop in Brookfield was devoted primarily to criticizing Obama’s proposed health care legislation.

“It pays for itself on the back of small business," Graves said. “Small businesses are struggling; they will be compelled to provide health insurance to their employees and will be penalized if they don’t."

Graves gave three reasons for his intent to vote against the health care reform legislation: his beliefs that “it will lower everyone’s quality of health care,” “it is a definite step toward government-run health care,” and “the impact it would have on small businesses.”

“Instead of mandating and taxing, let’s allow small businesses to group together when they’re shopping for health insurance,” Graves said, referring to the legislation he and Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez proposed. That legislation recommends “allow[ing] small businesses to pool together [to] buy health insurance as one big company instead of many small ones.”

Accusing the Obama administration of pushing a health care reform bill through Congress before it has a chance to be publicly scrutinized, Graves said, “We need tort reform; there’s no medical malpractice provision in Obama’s [health care reform] bill.”

With regard to the proposed government-sponsored health care insurance for those who can’t obtain it otherwise (the “public option”), he said, “The government option will be the only new option available after five years.”

When asked by a woman in the audience “how many people in our district are without health insurance,” Graves responded, “I don’t know,” and defended Medicare: “I don’t know that the problem with Medicare is with reimbursements for services; they are often less than the actual cost for those services. I worry about it all going through a public option that won’t reimburse adequately.”

When the woman said, “I don’t think you believe there is a crisis in health care like I do,” Graves responded, “We have the best health care in the world; its expensive, but we have Medicaid and SCHIP [State Children’s Health Insurance Program] ...You can always go to the emergency room.

“They have to treat you there,” he added, referring to options available to the uninsured.

“You can’t compete with the government,” Graves said. “Portability and pre-existing conditions need to be addressed."

“I don’t want the government taking over 20 percent of the economy through health care.”